When I migrated to the USA, all I had in my pocket was $15; all the Reserve Bank of India would permit. It would not have covered even a cab ride to Manhattan from Kennedy Airport. But I was so full of excitement, eager and confident that no harm would come to me in this new country and culture with which I only had a nodding familiarity. The people looked nothing like me, their accent familiar only to the extent that I had seen a few Hollywood movies, mostly Rom-Coms and Westerns.
But I had an abiding faith that people are good and had little reason to hurt me. I trusted them and myself that whatever life dishes out, I will be able to muddle through. Above all, I anticipated change and was open to learning and adapting.
Why am I bringing it up here now, years later?
We are facing an unknown and uncertain future.
Because now we are facing a sea change, just as I was facing then, venturing out to a world, I knew nothing about. I carried nothing more than goodwill and hope that it will all work out. Fortunately, I had no preconceived idea and was open to change, what the modern mindset theorist Carol Dweck calls ‘growth mindset.’
Like the breathtaking Tsunami that hit the shores of Japan in 2011, descending on unwary people and turned their world upside down, COVID-19 suddenly wreaked havoc in 2019 and had the same effect worldwide, compelling us all to do soul-searching and correct the course of our lives. It forced us to rethink and recalibrate all things that had led to a skewed culture. For the first time in this century, our egos collectively crumbled and experienced out-of-control situations all around. (See my blog https://www.pamsprism.com/perspectives/coronavirus-the-leveler/) It also called for significant social, political, business, and cultural transformation. We are at a juncture in history that challenges us to take responsibility, socially and individually, and be open to change and adapt, lest we tip the balance irrevocably, losing our environmental, social, and political stability.
During the voluntary and mandated lockdowns to control the pandemic in 2019 and 2020, we saw firsthand the restoration of the environment and wildlife and pollution reduction, giving us clarity about the extent to which we had abused and plundered natural resources pursuit of profits exclusively. The disruption in the supply chain brought home that no matter how much power we think we have, we are essentially interdependent, and any weak link can crumble the economies on a global scale. No country can afford that. The realization that we need course correction hit us across simultaneously as a groupthink. Still, it caused a serious reevaluation of our personal, political, and business purpose and our raison d’etre.
American business leaders have decided to change the business culture. They have begun putting Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) at the heart of the change and tackle Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) issues to resurrect the original relationship between business and society at large. The two cannot function mutually exclusively on a sustained basis. These issues have affected the perception of American companies negatively. (See https://www.pamsprism.com/perspectives/leadership-a-big-shift/)
Shifting into the ‘New Normal”
From 1955 till now, several wars in the world and the political instability in the Middle East shifted our culture toward the survival of the fittest mindset and self-centeredness so much that we lost touch with the reality of living in a multi-dimensional, diverse, and civilized world. We lost our civic and moral sense, along with our capacity for empathy and sympathy with fellow humans. Above all, we lost the most precious gift that we can all thrive on- easy trust!
In America, the idea of self at the center of the Universe has been promoted over the last 50 plus years. It has increasingly led us to become jaded, skeptical and shrunk our capacity to relate naturally to people outside our structured tribal, professional or political networks. The only way we can look at anyone outside of our tribe is through “stereotypes” with “All —- are —s,” which might have been only marginally accurate only within geographic boundaries. But with migration and globalization of education and trade, those stereotypes of immigrants that represent American diversity no longer represent the precise picture.
With their exposure and education in the American public school system, African Americans are very different from African located in the African continent. An Indian as a naturalized citizen or the first generation born and brought up here is remarkably different in his/her/their attitudes and approaches to life than Indians living in India. The same is true of people with disabilities today. They are a far cry from the disabled of years past when we had not advanced medically to overcome physical limitations caused by accident at birth or trauma and accidents suffered in war or civilian life. And, today’s women have come a long way in redefining their purpose and roles away from the ‘Kinder, Kuche, and Kirche” of the old era. So, stereotyping people is only going to lead to wrong conclusions and misunderstandings.
Contrast this against the migrant workers under colonialism. They were farm or low skill workers required to work in demanding hard physical labor jobs like vegetable picking or grain harvesting, laying the railroad lines, or building roads. Especially as the computer era dawned, those that came later were science and technology graduates with exceptional brainpower. And many newcomers are also those with considerable capital to invest in the American Economy. They are the entrepreneurs and franchisees changing the blighted suburban neighborhoods into thriving, gentrified areas and reviving their economies.
So the mental image of immigrants painted in the recent elections was inaccurate and created to whip up fear to gain a political edge. Your co-workers, independent of their skin color or national origin, are in a different category than the stereotype based on migrant workers of the earlier era.
Many immigrants came when the economy boomed unexpectedly. Employers had to scramble to find well-educated, technically and technologically savvy yet affordable labor under contract to meet the country’s needs. It is a pure issue of demand and supply.
It is an important truth to reckon with as our workplaces, towns, schools, and public places become increasingly populated by people with origins in different parts of our world, with varying skills and capabilities. So when faced with the significant changes in the mix of your co-workers working side by side, you must unlearn every stereotypical thinking and brace the new world.
Building the bridge to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
So how do you establish trust in the workplace and communities with such a diverse mix?
- Reeducate and update your knowledge about people who are different. In the initial encounters, make it about the member from the diverse background and listen carefully. You may be able to hone in on where your interest and his/hers/their interest can intersect and find common grounds or potentially exciting opportunities to collaborate.
- Tame your fear of the unfamiliar and fight the instinct to marginalize someone whose uniqueness seems threatening. Begin by assuming trust and give the benefit of the doubt before you put any label on a co-worker. Find comfort and assurance knowing that we live under the same legal and governmental structure and are bound by the laws.
- Suspend judgment based on ignorance or partial truths. Avoid gossips because it can kill any chance of developing trust. Until someone blatantly breaches that trust, give it enough time before you form opinions. It is vital if your team comprises multiple ethnicities, and you must cultivate a close working relationship. Discourage here-say because not doing so is giving tacit approval.
- Be curious and authentic in your questions if you encounter a behavior or attitude that you do not fully understand. And if necessary, share what you know with the newcomers or people from other lands. For example, I was a newcomer from India and used to stand up anytime my boss, an SVP, came into my office. India’s hierarchical culture was a mark of respect due to the pecking order and standard etiquette. My boss interpreted this as, “I am busy, so let’s not spend too much time and quickly be done with the business at hand.” After a few such encounters, he asked me why I always stand up when he walks into my office? I said, “To show respect! You are my boss.” His response was, “Phew! I thought you did not like me showing up in your office!” You can only imagine that if he had been hung up on the “political correctness” or things like “cultural appropriation,” we would have never cleared the smokescreen and lived under the false impression and a not-so-healthy work relationship!
- Develop cross-cultural understanding from the company trainers or conferences geared toward inclusion and assimilation in the work culture. Corporate culture is distinctly different from the dominant culture of America versus that of the country of one’s origin. Whereas we can accept the concept of mosaic diversity in the societal culture, work-culture assimilation is necessary. Every corporation has a unique culture, and it behooves all working for a company to understand it. The aim is to grow in the same direction.
- Communicate with clarity and sincerity. Keep your words and use the words carefully lest you are misunderstood and create distrust. Do not push people into staff positions because you are unsure about co-workers from origins in other countries because you think they will not handle P&L responsibilities. Ask and clarify when in doubt. You may be surprised.
ven casual hallway conversations while passing each other, like “let’s do lunch sometime,” may be misinterpreted due to not understanding the nuance of face-saving meaningless courtesy, not an invitation. An immigrant co-worker, new on the scene, eager to make friends, might take it seriously and wonder why no invitation is ever issued. Like thousand tiny papercuts, trust is lost through many minor misunderstandings. Using words that show disunity like “you people” to point at someone’s action is offensive. It suggests that the dormant us vs. you divide and not conducive to winning trust. - Have esprit de corps and do not engage in competition. Bring back the concept of team and co-workers as the “Corporate Family.” Before the industrial age, businesses were usually on agriculture and farming-based family enterprise known as the “Corporate Family.” Everybody in the family and extended family worked. Everyone pitched in as and when needed beyond their assigned roles. Whereas they competed with other businesses, the members within the family did not compete. Think of a team as a “corporate family” pursuing a specific business activity. (See https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/03/the-nuclear-family-was-a-mistake/605536/) Competition within the group results from the faulty belief that it will improve productivity or get people to do their best. Still, sometimes it backfires into low morale and infighting, and distraction from the goal.
- Take on peer mentoring role informally (Of course with mutual agreement) without seeming like micromanaging. Informal relationships create a rapport that lays the foundation for trust and team spirit. Newcomers from other countries often are not fully aware of the American way of doing things in a business environment.
- Encourage people of diverse origins to express their ideas freely. In many cultures challenging a senior or more experienced person’s ideas is frowned upon as lacking humility. Sometimes it is the self-consciousness about accents or cadence in conversational English or just introverted personality that results in silence. But not encouraging participation has a negative consequence for the team for innovative idea generation and may have a wrong connotation. Hesitation or shyness on the part of someone with a diverse background is often misinterpreted as arrogance or weakness, both perceived as barriers in building trust.
- Give credit for ideas or performance to whomever credit is due, even when it is a team effort. One of the biggest complaints heard, especially in the corporate settings, is how claims for ideas are hijacked by the aggressive, uber-competitive team members leaving people from cultures that emphasize politeness feeling cheated. It is the ultimate trust ender. The team leader’s responsibility is to get all ideas on the table for consideration and recognize the originators.
Building trust, especially during the transformation, should be seen as an infrastructure project. The blueprints and plans should come from the corporate /business visionaries with the mission, goals, and measurements clearly defined and then communicated in a three-dimensional perspective to everyone for execution and implementation.
For the change to become embedded in reality, it must be a top-down and bottom-up approach. For any change to stick, everyone must have a sense of participation at various stages and a feeling of ownership of the transformation.